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Community of Protection

Are you a Caring Kidpower Adult?

I must say, when I got my copy of this book, I felt a bit daunted by the size of it.

Talk about value for money! I looked at it, rather than read it, for about 2 months. It just sat there next to my chair on the sill. I did eventually flick through it – without reading – and saw a colourful, organised, picture-inclusive book in which there proved to be a huge amount of helpful, life-changing information.

I wanted to train with Kidpower on the Instructor training and this was also my pre-course text book. When I have to do something and I’m afraid of failure, I tend to not do it – not until I have to or time’s running out and the pressure is on!

I was grateful for the generous amount of pictures which made me smile, taught me with visuals, sometimes without even having to read anything, I could see what was going on. But then I became engrossed when I started reading the text. It was so interesting and informative – then I had to know everything. I bought every single Kidpower book and also ordered the books by Gavin de Becker, who wrote the Foreword, which are incredibly hair-raising and honest.

Don’t be Afraid to Learn in different ways

Learning new things makes us wiser. Reading about how to protect your children is the textbook version of learning from someone else’s life lessons. Going to a Workshop allows you to interact with others and to learn from lots of people, and they can learn from you. It confirms for you that you are not alone! How many times do we need to hear that, my friends?

Know Thy Neighbour

Talking to your friends, or even strangers, about child protection and sharing great ideas and safety skills you’ve picked up, helps to create a community of protection around our children. Getting to know your neighbour rather than living in a bubble is a far safer way to live.

I wish you a delightful read.

Share with your community – Go On, be a STAR!

Ursula

Highly recommended, add these books by Gavin de Becker to your collection.

If you feel that your child is not behaving normally after a school day, don’t be complacent. Find out if everything went okay that day. Often schools try to deal with issues and the parents never get to find out. A child who is afraid to say what’s wrong could easily develop new behaviours (usually undesirable as they’re acting out). They may be influenced by their peers at school and not even realise they’re behaving differently.

When you see your child after their day at school and you ask them what they did that day, and all they can do is shrug their shoulders and say, “Nothing…” then you know something’s up. Something has probably happened to preoccupy your child’s mind above and beyond the education of the day. A happy child will more than likely want to talk.

Bullying is often not understood by children. They might be the nicest of kids and not want to “tell” on their friends or school mates in case they get bullied further, or taunted; they could already be afraid of the bully.

Abuse in any form will affect a child’s mood and behaviour. The important thing to do is to NOTICE! Too often our children start to change and we put it down to:

a phase

growing up

hormones

boys

girls

etc.

The most important things to do are to:

NOTICE – that your child is behaving differently to usual.

ELICIT – often the best way is the straightforward, honest way: You could say: “I can see something’s wrong. I don’t want you to feel like you have to tell me right now but until you do, I can’t do anything to help you, and I really want to help you to feel happy and safe. Come and tell me when you want to feel happy and safe.” All children want to feel happy and safe and it’s our duty as their parents/carers/adults to ensure this.

REMAIN CALM – there is no point in getting worked up. Your child needs to know that you are in control of the situation and you won’t be showing that if you’ve lost the plot! They need to know that they can come to you whenever they have a crisis.

REASSURE – your child needs reassurance that they aren’t going to be in trouble for telling, and they need to know that if required, you will be discreet so that they won’t be victimised further.

TAKE ACTION – always do something about it! Whatever the problem is. Show your child that it was worth telling you and that you have taken them seriously. (If you don’t, who will?) You may need to speak to the school, or in less urgent situations, write to the school and follow up with them to ensure that they have taken on board what you’ve said so that they can act in the best interests of your child when your child is in their care. It is always a good idea to follow up with the teacher/office/head teacher and if necessary, meet with them and your child to show solidarity and so that your child knows what the next steps are.

FOLLOW UP – always let the child know what action has been taken so that they can prepare themselves (mentally and emotionally or academically – dependent on the situation).

SUPPORT – always let the child know that they have your support and that the right thing to do is to always tell you straightaway if something is wrong because their happiness and safety is most important to you. Find support for yourself too.

Remember that we’re not alone in the struggle to keep our children safe. We are ALL IN THE SAME BOAT!

Having the right people in charge of our Policing is essential. I urge you to take a stand and vote on 5th May 2016. We have the important decision to make and the action to take in electing our next area Police and Crime Commissioner.

Why not fire off some questions to your candidates and see if they respond? I know I’ll be doing that. I want to know:

They, I’ve read, are the country’s leading authority on Child Protection, with ChildLine for children, NSPCC for adults, and reports being commissioned by the government. They hold the golden ticket to getting noticed thanks to the amount of money they receive. Good for them. I really mean it. But I don’t see them using enough of their influence for the PREVENTION of child abuse. A website is not enough. Is it? Please feel free to disagree in the comments.

So,…

What is PREVENTION of child abuse?

How can we PREVENT child abuse?

When can we PREVENT child abuse?

WHAT: Prevention of child abuse is making it so so that a child is NEVER ABUSED.

HOW: We must put aside our laziness and ignorance and GET EDUCATED!

WHEN: We need to START NOW!

We need to integrate this training into our childrens’ curriculum; there need to be community workshops that are made to be fun and exciting and educational and those who are versed in safety training need to spread awareness and knowledge. Don’t keep it to yourselves.

We’ve become such an insular society. Not only as a whole, but individually. Sharing with your neighbours, being a community of citizens who look out for each other and our children is something that is dwindling fast – much to the pleasure of pedofiles and child abusers, I’m sure! Only a crisis brings people together, it seems, where normally people don’t speak to each other. We need to change this.

Kids who’ve been abused deserve more than governmental reports. They deserve a roadmap of where to go to from where they’re at with the required support. Most importantly, they need to be heard and they need to see their perpetrators brought to justice.

In America, right now, there is a fight to bring the state of Pennsylvania’s statute of limitations to a fair period of time. The Americans really know how to fight for justice. Where are our British equals? If that’s you, me,… let’s change the way of the people so that abuse can no longer be ignored, or swept under the rug, or left for someone else to deal with.

Let’s help to give survivors a road to somewhere safe.

Let’s help to pave a safe and happy path for our innocent children.

Let’s help to create a world where we are all responsible for our childrens’ security.